They work easily together, by now; they know each other’s rhythm, and how to make the right space for it. The rain has eased off. The cries of geese limbering up for their long journey come to them from high up in the sky; far below, in the grass outside the window, the small birds hop and dart after worms. They’ve been painting for about twenty minutes when Trey says, out of the clear blue sky, “My brother’s gone missing.”
Cal manages to freeze only for half a second before his roller starts moving again. He would know from the tone, even if he hadn’t heard the words: this is why Trey is here.
“Yeah?” he says. “When?”
“March.” Trey is still rollering his patch of wall, meticulously, not looking at Cal. “Twenty-first.”
“OK,” Cal says. “How old is he?”
“Nineteen. His name’s Brendan.”
Cal is feeling his way, toe by toe. “What’d the police say?”
“Didn’t tell them.”
“How come?”
“Mam wouldn’t. She said he went off, and he’s old enough if he wants.”
“But you don’t think so.”
Trey’s face, when he stops painting and looks at Cal at last, has a terrible, tight-wound misery. He shakes his head for a long time.
“So what do you think happened?”
Trey says, low, “Think someone’s got him.”
“Like, kidnapped him?”
Nod.
“OK,” Cal says carefully. “You got any idea who?”
Every cell in Trey’s body is focused on Cal. He says, “You could find out.”
There’s a moment of silence.
“Kid,” Cal says gently. “More than likely, your mama’s right. From what everyone tells me, people mostly do take off from here, soon as they’re old enough.”
“He’d’ve told me.”
“Your brother’s still a teenager. They do dumb shit like that. I know it’s gotta hurt, if you guys are close, but sooner or later he’ll grow up a little bit and realize it was a crappy thing to do. He’ll get in touch then.”
That stubborn chin has hardened. “He didn’t go off.”
“Any reason you’re so sure?”
“I know. He didn’t.”
“If you’re worried about him,” Cal says, “you oughta go to the police. I know your mama doesn’t want to, but you can do it yourself. They can take a report from a minor. They can’t make him come home till he’s ready, but they’ll look into it, put your mind at ease.”
Trey is looking at him like he can’t believe anyone this dumb is still breathing. “What?” Cal says.
“Guards won’t do anything.”
“Sure they will. It’s their job.”
“They’re fucking useless. You do it. You investigate. You’ll see: he didn’t go off.”
“I can’t investigate, kid,” Cal says, even more gently. “I’m not a cop any more.”
“Do it anyway.” Trey’s voice is rising. “Do the stuff you said, for finding people. Talk to his mates. Watch their houses.”
“I could do that stuff because I had a badge. Now that I don’t, no one’s gotta answer my questions. I stake out someone’s house, I’m the one who’s gonna get arrested.”
Trey isn’t even hearing him. He’s holding the roller high in a clenched fist, like a weapon. “Tap their phones. Check his bank card.”
“Kid. Even when I was a cop, it wasn’t around here. I don’t have buddies where I can call in favors.”
“Then you do it.”
“Does this place look like I have the technology to—”
“Then do something else. Do something.”
“I’m retired, kid,” Cal says, still gently, but with finality. He’s not going to leave the kid hoping. “There’s nothing I could do, even if I wanted to.”
Trey throws his roller across the room. He rips off Cal’s old shirt, buttons popping, and stuffs it deep in the can of primer. Then he whips round and smashes the dripping shirt into the cubbyholes of the desk, with all his weight behind it. The desk goes over backwards. Trey runs.
The desk is a mess. Cal straightens it up and uses the shirt—which is a write-off anyway; no laundromat is going to deal with that—to wipe away the bigger globs of primer. Then he wets a cloth and cleans off the rest. Luckily it’s water-based, but it’s got right into half the joints, where no cloth can reach it. Cal goes at it with his toothbrush, calling Trey a little bastard under his breath.
In fact, he’s finding it hard to actually get mad. First the kid’s daddy, then his big brother; no wonder he wants an answer that would bring one of them home and wouldn’t involve him deliberately walking out without a backwards glance. Cal just wishes he had come out with this earlier, instead of building his hopes in secret all this time.